A mounting structure that uses a plate metal clip is employed to mount an automobile interior component, e.g. a component known as a grab rail or an assist clip (referred to as a grab rail below), to an interior panel. Mounting structures that use a plate metal clip are disclosed in Patent Documents 1 and 2.
The plate metal clip comprises a pair of plate portions linked at the distal ends or proximal ends relative to the direction of insertion, and engaging protuberances cut and raised outward are formed in the plate portions. When a clip of this configuration is passed through a through-hole formed in a base component at both ends of the grab rail to which the clip is being mounted and the clip is pushed into a through-hole in the interior panel, the engaging protuberances of the clip engage in the back surface of the interior panel. Further, a cap is mounted in the through-hole of the base component from the rear side of the clip, so that engaging parts formed in the cap become engaged with the base component from the front side in the direction of insertion, in which state the through-hole of the base component is closed up. In this state, the interior panel is sandwiched between the engaging protuberances of the clip and the area of the base component that faces the interior panel, and held in this state by the cap engaged in the base component.
Thus, when the base component of the grab rail is positioned in the through-hole of the interior panel and the clip and cap are pushed into the through-hole of the base component in this state, the base component is mounted in the interior panel. Therefore, the grab rail can be easily mounted in the interior panel without fastening implements such as screws or bolts.
Mounting structures that use a clip made from a plastic molded article are also known, as disclosed in Patent Document 3. The essential configuration of such a mounting structure that uses a plastic clip is the same as when a plate metal clip is used. Elastically deformable engaging protuberances are formed in the clip, and when the engaging protuberances are passed through through-holes formed in the base component at both ends of the grab rail and pushed into through-holes in the interior panel, the engaging protuberances come to be engaged in the back surface of the interior panel.